Nation: High Wire Act

Shortly after President Kennedy's eloquent inaugural, the Gallup poll
found that 69% of the U.S. liked the way he was beginning his new job.
His popularity soared to a high of 83* in the rally-roundthe-flag
spirit that immediately followed the Bay of Pigs fiasco that April,
sagged to 71 by July, climbed again in the atmosphere of crisis over
Berlin to a second peak of 79 last March. But since Kennedy's
celebrated tangle with Big Steel and the Blue Monday that followed,
his popularity has slipped. The latest Gallup poll found him back where
he started: 69% of...